Top Posts

Top Clicks

Pages

Archive for the ‘Why There Will Be A Rapture’ Category

Revelation 3:10 – Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.

I urgently entreat you dear brethren to consider reading my main treatise concerning the rapture. The topic of this devotional is explaining why the rapture not only will be, but it MUST be. My motivation for writing this is that I have been listening to some preachers who deny that there will be a rapture as predicted in such books and movies as “Left Behind.” Such people only believe in the final resurrection that precedes the final judgment and second death that will happen after the millennial reign of Christ on earth (Revelation 20). In fairness to such Christians, the rapture doctrine is extremely new, having been formulated in 1830. (Incidentally, Jews have a similar view of endtimes to rapture – less Christians; see John 11:23-25). Though the recent formulation of the rapture doctrine is often used to discredit it; be not troubled. Realize that the trinity doctrine was not fully formulated until 325 A.D., and that many early church Believers went to Heaven without truly understanding it. As a matter of fact, it is unclear how many of even the apostles and disciples who walked with Jesus understood trinity, for only John overtly wrote of it. Further, the Bible does mention the multiplication of knowledge in the last days, and that certain things would be written in the scriptures but their meaning would be hidden until then. So though rapture believers can look at “we shall all not sleep” (I Corinthians 15:50-51) and instantly know what it means, readers of the Bible in previous times were puzzled. The same is true of people who read about the “broadways with lit carriages” in Nahum 2:4 before the invention of automobiles and freeways, or of the many prophetic events concerning Jews, Israel, and Jerusalem before 1948, when it appeared that the return of Jews all over the world to recreate Israel seemed less possible than aliens or time travel.

Further, the rapture doctrine was not widely known or accepted until the birth of the charismatic movement 70 years later. As a matter of fact, rapture doctrine is what motivated Methodists such as William Seymour to start the charismatic movement. Such Believers felt that the charismatic movement would remove all of the differences within the Body of Christ, and the resulting unification would fulfill endtimes prophecies and preconditions and bring about the return of Christ. In one sense the charismatics achieved their goal, as the growth of the charismatic movement – and its effects on the pre – existing religious order – broke down barriers that caused a rapid explosion in the spreading of the gospel. However, their goal of church unity failed. Conversely, even though much of the pre – existing religious structure adapted to and assimilated many things charismatic, rather than unifying the church the charismatic movement created unprecedented divisions!

Yet, this is exactly how God works through people who are truly committed to Him. Even though their goal of bringing about the rapture through church unity failed with the opposite occurring – not only did they spark divisions within the Body of Christ but the charismatic movement itself divided – they STILL brought us closer to the rapture! How? Well consider that the charismatic founders did not understand endtimes prophecy. The Bible does not say that the rapture will come when the church is UNITED. Quite the contrary: the unification of the church – and of all churches – into one world religion will not occur until the great tribulation under the auspices of the anti – Christ. Instead, the Bible says that before the rapture happens, there will be a FALLING AWAY from the church; a devolution from the religious structures and institutions (II Thessalonians 2:1-4). It will not be a falling away from God or even from fellowship, but from the manmade worldly system that Christians relied upon to know and serve God. As we have seen throughout history, even in Old Testament times, whenever religious power has been centralized, Satan is able to find a way in to seduce and lead astray the religious power – brokers, and once he has corrupted the leadership, the corruption of the followers quickly follows. It happened in the Judges period when Eli’s sons turned after Baal; it happened in the Kings period when the vast majority of the kings became idolators; it happened again when the children of Israel returned from captivity, forgot about God, and the religious leaders became cruel, greedy, hypocritical, power – hungry, and legalistic. It happened again in the church age when the church was consolidated under Constantine, and so forth. Human unity is always a bad thing, for humans will always forget God and go after their own imaginations. Whenever humans unify, God has to scatter them, just as He did in the

tower of Baal incident, and the Body of Christ is not immune, for though individuals in the religion may be saved, religion itself can never be because religion is of the world.

For this reason, as long as there will be people who will seek God rather than this world, there will never be unity. True Believers will never unite with this world, they will always resist it even to the point of death. True Believers resisted feudalism. True Believers resisted communism. True Believers resisted fascism. True Believers resisted predestination theology and evangelized the Third World. And true Believers started the charismatic revival. And the charismatic movement shows how God can use a true Believer even if said Believer is misguided! But once the people who love God more than this world are gone, there will be nothing in the natural realm or the spiritual realm preventing those who love this world and have rejected God to join themselves to this world and to each other under the anti – Christ. Such things can never happen with the church present, for as long as the church is here, they will resist Satan. They will resist Satan with their prayers. They will resist Satan with their spiritual warfare. They will resist Satan with their works. They will resist Satan with their witness. They will resist Satan with their very lives. And when a Believer resists Satan, he has no choice but to flee. And when a Believer binds Satan, he not only has to flee from the Believer, but he has to flee whatever the Believer has bound him from, whether it is a person, an activity, or territory. But with no Believers around, Satan will have carte blanche to act and rule wherever, whoever, and however unrestrained. Satan will know that once the Believers are gone that he will have but a short time, but he will still greedily take advantage of it anyway, for Satan is lust and vanity that desires power, and hence he will happily trade his eternal for absolute power over the earth for a small speck of time. As ridiculous as that seems, how many humans do the same; trade eternity in Heaven for eternity in the lake of fire for the pleasures of this world; for things so trivial as being on the winning side of a religious argument over doctrine or church ritual or governance.

Rapture deniers may claim that the church will not have the power to overcome the anti – Christ or his system. That contradicts scripture, where Christ said that all power has been given to us in His Name through the Holy Spirit. There is the verse in Revelation that says that the anti – Christ will be given power to make war with and overcome the saints; that power will come after the rapture when the church age of grace is over and the Holy Spirit will be departed. It will not be Satan being given power over God or His Anointed on earth; it will be Satan stepping into the power void and vacuum created by the departure of God’s Spirit. As a matter of fact, though the anti – Christ may yet exert much influence over the economic, political, religious, and social systems of the earth, he will not take full power until he overcomes God’s witnesses. Only at that time will the anti – Christ be able to institute the mark of the beast and behead all who refuse.

Yet, the key point of why the rapture has to occur is given in Revelation 3:10. It is a hard thing to accept, but it is true. Though many have accepted Christ and will accept Christ, thanks to the religious system not all have received sound doctrine. Thanks to the vanities and lusts of the flesh, not all have truly sought God through His Word. And not all have truly consecrated themselves; have rejected and separated themselves from this world. Yet, God still loves those people! And yes, God’s Word is true. For all of their faults, God still loves them and will make His Word true for them. Despite their flaws, God will honor the New Covenant with its better promises: that whoever believes that Christ is the Son of God and is God who died for our sins and was raised from the dead by that same God. Also, consider the parable of the pennies (Matthew 20:1-14). Everyone, whether they started work in the vineyard early in the day, in the middle of the day, or at the very end, received the same wage. Agreeing to work in the vineyard represents salvation, receiving the penny means going to Heaven. And the different times of day that people began to work in the Garden not only represent periods in an individual’s lifetime (as in someone who gets saved early in their lives versus someone who gets saved at the very end and all in between) represents different periods in history. You had the pre – Old Covenant saints (from Abel to Moses), the Old Covenant saints (from Moses to the apostles), the church age (the apostles until the tribulation/rapture), the post – rapture tribulation saints, and the saints during Christ’s millennial reign.

Now saints in every age have regarded the time in which they live as having been the most wicked ever and the hardest ever to receive Christ and to live a holy life, but in reality it is not true. Each era during the church age has presented different challenges to the saints. For instance, as wicked and corrupt as the world society is now, we have a great diversity of churches, doctrines, worship models, etc. from which to choose that lead to salvation. While previous times may have been more outwardly moral, religious expression and lifestyle back then was much more repressive, legalistic, impersonal, and hypocritical, making it harder for accepting Christ to be a free choice and to build a personal relationship through faith after making that choice. But the great tribulation is going to be different! The anti – Christ is going to have such mastery over the world institutions and the minds of men. He is going to offer every human alive such seductive temptations; the very desires of their heart, as to be carnally irresistible. He will be working mighty miracles far beyond even what the vast majority of Christians will have seen. (Keep in mind that most Christians believe that the age of miracles ended with the apostles, and most of the rest accept miracles in theory but not practice). And perhaps worst of all, there is going to be a spirit of strong delusion (II Thessalonians 2:11), literal mass insanity, hypnosis, and mind – control, worldwide; a time when 2 + 2 will equal 5, the color of the sky will be yellow, up will be down, down will be up, etc. And yes, during the worst of it, accepting Christ will mean not being able to buy or sell and ultimately death.

Now, those who accept Christ during that time will know what having made that choice will mean and thereby be able to stand. But those who accepted Christ during the grace age and became accustomed to the comfort and protection of the Holy Spirit will be completely unsuited to live without it. Consider this: the lack of a rapture actually would threaten and harm the most committed, faithful saints the most. Carnal saints have learned how to rely on and even live for and serve God and resist Satan in the flesh, but the true Believers will have renounced the flesh and become haters of this world and do everything in, for, and through the Holy Spirit. Take away the Holy Spirit, and what will they have left? Keep in mind: even the religious structure, who with all its flaws does provide a way for all who are sincere to receive Christ, will be gone also! The carnal Christians will be very vulnerable to lies and temptations because they will lack the foundation of knowledge, discernment, and strength; they will not even regard the things of this world as vanity, let alone hate them. And the spiritual Christians will be vulnerable because the Holy Spirit will not be there to help them. There is this gospel song where the singer states that he cannot even brush his teeth without the Holy Spirit. Well in the tribulation age the cavities and gum disease that such a person would develop would be the least of his problems!

So, who among Christians would be able to stand in that evil time? 20%?50%?80%? Really, the answer does not matter, because it is not God’s will that ANY of His sheep be lost; a good shepherd will leave 99 of His sheep to find one. So, God will not allow the great tribulation with its threat of dying for lack of food and water, being executed, or being seduced by the anti-Christ’s unprecedented powers of lies and deceptions to drive His sheep away, whether those sheep were carnal without much root in the Word to begin with or were strong saints living by the Holy Spirit only to have the Holy Spirit pulled from under them. God will not be seeking a way to nullify John 3:16 or Romans 10:9-10. He is not going to say that people are saved by faith in His Christ, and then allow them to endure the greatest evil the world has ever known WITHOUT the Holy Spirit (or even the law!) so that they can backslide.

And also, consider that God’s Word is true. Remember the parable of the pennies. God is not going to make it harder for any Christian to enter Heaven just because of the age in which they were born; punishing them because they were born at the end of the age of grace. He certainly is not going to make it harder for someone who accepted Christ during the age of grace to enter Heaven by allowing them to go through the great tribulation without the Holy Spirit or a legitimate religious structure. Why? Because God LOVES us and WANTS us to go to Heaven! Now, do not be deceived by false interpretations of parables such as allowing the tare and wheat to grow together, or those who received the seed from the sower on good soil versus on the wayside or in the weeds; those folks who claim that the great tribulation will separate the real real Christians from the fake real Christians, from the real elect Christians from the mostly elect Christians and other false doctrine nonsense. Reject doctrine and stand on THE BIBLE. The Bible says that either you are a Christian or you are not, and that if you are a Christian you go to Heaven. Period.Those verses refers to people who actually accept Christ and make a legitimate effort to follow Him versus religious pretenders.

People will be tried and separated, but not by the great tribulation. They will be tried and separated by the tribulation that every Christian who has ever and will ever walk the earth during the age of grace will go through, and the purpose of that tribulation, of the INDIVIDUAL tribulation, is not to drive people away but to make them stronger; to increase their faith and to cause them to renounce this world and the flesh in favor of the very same Holy Spirit that will depart the earth during the age of grace. The people who will renounce Christ and go after Satan during the age of grace will not buckle under because of great persecution, and they certainly will not be deceived. Instead, they will make a willing, knowing, eyes open choice to reject and defy God whom they not only did not love but did not even have the sense to fear in the first place. They are people who were never God’s sheep and did not respond to the voice of the shepherd (Christ) because they did not know it when they heard it. But all of the sheep, everyone who knows the call of the shepherd and answers, everyone who hears the knock on the door and answers will be saved. Why? Because it is in the Bible.Period.

People are forgetting the real reason for the tribulation anyway. The reason for the tribulation is to use its great horrors and sorrows to A) to punish mankind for its sins and B) to soften the necks and hearts of God’s few remaining sheep (some allege the Jews) so they will accept Christ. Either A) or B) will happen, there will be no in between! So why expose the church to A) since their sins have already been forgiven? It will be like a parent KNOWINGLY giving a child a spanking for something that he has not done! And why expose the church to B) if they have already accepted Christ? Now some might allege that Christians will be useful during the great tribulation in converting the few remaining saints and also instructing and comforting them. Now, just how are they supposed to do that? All conversions, teachings, comfortings, etc. that were done by the saints in the age of grace were works of the Holy Spirit. So how are they do to these works when the Holy Spirit is GONE FROM THE EARTH? Sure, those works will be done, but it will be done by tribulation saints who never lived or operated with the Holy Spirit and hence will be effective in their works for God with other means.

Now, despite all of my words which are justified not by my own logic but rather by undeniable Biblical principles, many are still going to reject it. They are going to deny the contents of the Bible, resist the Holy Ghost, and choose the teachings of religious institutions; they are going to trust their preachers rather than the Word of God. They are even not going to be convinced by the mighty works of the rapture – believing charismatics. Some will even claim that the works of the charismatics are actually part of some Satanic plot to ensnare people with false doctrine: such people are not heeding the words of Jesus when He said that Satan cannot oppose himself or be divided against himself by casting out his own demons. Or when Paul and James said that Satan and his demons, including the anti – Christ spirit, CAN DO EVERYTHING ELSE BUT CONFESS that Jesus Christ is the Risen Son of God and Lord of all; that He is the Word of God and that God’s Word is true. But charismatics can, and charismatics DO confess that Jesus Christ is the Son of God crucified for our sins and was risen, we DO confess that God’s Word is true, we DO confess that Christ is coming back one day. So how can we be joined with Satan?

But you know what? That is OK. You know why? Because despite their unbelief in sound doctrine concerning the rapture, despite their choosing their religious system and their preachers concerning the rapture over their denomination, despite their standing on the old knowledge rather than the new endtimes knowledge, they are still going to be raptured up. Why? Because God still loves them. Because when they accepted Christ into their lives, ALL of their sins were forgiven, including their sins of unbelief and rejection of sound doctrine, and even their sins of mocking and persecuting those who do not share their sin. They do not know that God is even using them despite the error of their ways; using them to try the saints that do believe so that they will emerge stronger, better able to explain and defend rapture doctrine.

So, rapture deniers will retain their unbelief in the rapture right up until the rapture itself happens, they find themselves in Heaven, and are like “what happened?” And it is a good thing for them too, for how many of them will be able to stand in the great tribulation? That the rapture denier will also be raptured is just another reason for those of us to know the truth to rejoice in what a mighty AND loving God that we serve. Whatever is going on in the natural realm, in the spirit realm their unbelief in the rapture died with Jesus on the cross! Hallelujah! Amen!

Prayer:

Father God in the name of Christ Jesus, please open the eyes of those who reject the rapture, and thank you that such people will be saved by your rapturing of the saints whether they believe or not. Moreover Lord, may more and more people be saved through Christ, and may your Believers, rapture adherers or not, evangelize in Christ’s Name with Your Holy Spirit In the Name of Jesus Christ, amen!

Deliverance:

The demons that work in this area are false doctrine, false teaching, and unbelief. Please read the Basic Spiritual Warfare guide to learn more about how to go against these demons to help set captives free and win battles in the name of your God through the power, authority, and victory given to you by his Son Jesus Christ and by his blood shed for